“[F]EW persons become better for the infirmities of sickness. The reason is that they do not make a Christian use of them. Make, then, a good use of these afflictions, and to this end learn that the grace of bodily ailments is a very great one. “God,” says St. Catherine of Genoa, “converts the bodies of sick persons into a present Purgatory.” Learn that it is so great a grace that it is sufficient to bring a soul to a high degree of sanctity, as we read of many saints, whose life was one of unceasing bodily ailment. What works did these persons so eminent for sanctity perform? Did they visit the poor? Did they preach? What were their exercises and employments except this — to be sick and ailing. Seek help from Heaven, that you may obtain the gift of great patience; it is very necessary in maladies which are attended with acute pains or which are of long duration. Remember that ailments which last a long time ought to be carefully utilized for Eternity; it is the occupation which Divine Providence assigns to persons thus tried for gaining Heaven. Let them give good heed to make a faithful use of them; for usually their prolonged duration renders them wearisome.
“Further, keep a watch over the stratagems of self love, which insinuates itself everywhere; it will not fail to furnish you in this case with a multitude of pretexts, wearing even a plausible colouring of the glory of God: in order to render your maladies irksome to you, it will suggest to your mind that your infirmities make you a burden to those you live with, but God who wills these infirmities wills all the consequences of them. We too, then, must will them, and not disquiet ourselves, although we may be a burden and a trouble to others. It will represent to you that you are useless in the world; and especially, if you live in a community, it will try to sadden you with the thought; but be assured that sick persons who are true Christians are not useless, as is imagined by those who look at things only with the eyes of the flesh. Oh, what sweet mercies do these suffering souls draw down from Heaven on the houses where they dwell; and how incomparably more good they do there than is done by those busy, active persons who have so many schemes and projects, and abound in natural resources, and who are generally regarded as the mainstays of communities!”
— Henri-Marie Boudon, The Holy Ways of the Cross [trans. Edwin Thompson Healey]
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